The two-days virtual Spring Litfest organized by Chandigarh Literary Society (CLS) opened with its chairperson Dr Sumita Misra, IAS, announcing the celebration of life in its diverse beautiful facets during the spring season. This is also the 10th anniversary of CLS, she remarked, and we wanted to have new initiative to bring together the creative people and authors to share their work experience.
Though lot of talk and poetry revolved around the pandemic period that gave birth to many creative works, there was a beautiful tinge of hope and the human values that people became aware of including the beauty of the Nature during these challenging times.
Dr Arshiya Saini, a celebrated author, the first dance and music critic, and a well known face on Doordarshan, shared her experience of lockdown in conversation with Nisha Luthra, and that, she said, not only helped her connect with some of the best artists from across the globe because of the technological marvels, but gave her time to reconnect with herself.
Doordarshan she said democratized all forms of art over the years bringing to the fore some of the great artists, she recalled.
She said that pandemic has shown us to lead our lives as givers and start thinking about other people.
A mythologist Utkarsh Patel, and author of "Shakuntla: the Woman Wronged", a corporate turned mythological fiction writer, in talk with Col Avnish Sharma, explained the mythological writing, which is a sacred story, not as a religious, but because of people's strong belief in them, but there is a strong purpose of these stories, he said.
Myths, he said, might not be a reality but because of the strong lessons these carry, the people continue to relate with them and share it over the ages turning them almost sacred. Mythological writing is necessary to connect with some of the unknown facets of strong personalities from the past who carry life-changing lessons over the ages.
Surbhi Sarna, avid storyteller, children's writer, picture book enthusiast and a psychologist, said it has therapeutic value and through telling a story, which acts as a catharsis, can heal, and even at times can empower the reader through various metaphors and words used in the story.
Sutapa Basu, a prolific historical fiction writer, poet and a publishing professional for children's books, shared the story of her latest book, "The Cursed Inheritance", and her earlier book "The Curse of Nadir Shah" which is a part of her Invaders Series.
In conversation with writer, trainer, and communication strategist CJ Singh, Sudapa reiterated that her purpose of writing historical fiction is to make history come alive and enable the readers to connect with their rich past and understand the cultural treasure. Even her current cozy mystery is a queset of a young UK returned Indian who returns and discovers the Indian culture in the byelanes of Kolkata while unraveling the mysteries of the old mansion.
Dyutima conducted the slam poetry session with young budding writers, Sofia Khatoon, Isha Yadav and Akshay who recied their poetic experiences of life and its varied hues through the pandemic.
Tomorrow, on the second day, thee shall be Kavi Sammelan moderated by Madhav Kaushik, besides moderated sessions with Abeer Kapoor, Kishwar Desai, Vinita Bakshi, Tim de Rider, and Sahar Mansoor, starting at 5pm which is being streamed live on Facebook and YouTube (@CLS Chandigarh).
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